Advanced Thermal Spray About Us
We are the thermal spray company that invented the PTWA (Plasma Transferred Wire Arc) thermal spraying process. Flame-Spray Industries received the 2009 IPO National Inventor of the Year award for this process. We developed a production-ready version of this technology which improves fuel efficiency by reducing engine weight and by reducing internal engine friction losses.
50+ years in the thermal spray industry developing coating technologies (FSI founded in 1964)
Designed and developed innovative coating equipment and new coating applications
FSI has been working with Automotive OEMs for over 20 years on the development of bore coating technology for new production aluminum cylinder blocks and the repair of cast iron blocks
FSI specializes in the invention and development of new technologies
Flame-Spray Industries Receives National Inventor of the Year Award
The Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation’s 36-year-old National Inventor of the Year Award program recognizes individuals who epitomize American technological leadership traditions and increases public awareness of current inventors and how they benefit the nation’s economy and quality of life.
The 2009 Inventor of the Year award was given to Ford and Flame-Spray Industries for the collaborative development of the spray apparatus used in the patented production-ready Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA) thermal spray coating process for aluminum engine blocks.
This accomplishment puts Ford and Flame-Spray Industries in elite company with medical and pharmaceutical powerhouses as well as agricultural and chemical standouts, among others. For example, past Inventors of the Year include Dr. Raymond Damadian of Fonar Corporation to develop Upright MRI technology and Dr. Ihor Lys of Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions for his development of a more efficient LED lighting system. More recently, the 2021 award was given to four individuals for the development of the mRNA technology used in COVID vaccines.
The team of inventors who were honored at the National Inventor of the Year Award ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 28th, 2009 were Ford retiree James Baughman and Dr. David Cook, Keith Kowalsky, and Daniel Marantz of supplier Flame-Spray Industries. Dr. Cook was a member of the Ford team when the spray device was initially developed.
The equipment, products and services may be covered under one or more claims of the following patents and their patent families (not limited to)
6060117,6395090,5480497,5616259, 5622753, 6297466, 5592927, 5808270, 5938944, 5922412, 5958520, 5926667, 5468295, 5714205, 6372298, 6706993, 7296610, 5671634, 6559407, 6017591, 5771873, 5820939, 6595263, 7273669, 6651795, 8581138, 9988703